Chapter 15. The productive-utilitarian society.

This chapter is dedicated to enumerate the few basic laws for the protection of the productive-utilitarian society.

But before getting into this subject, some prior analyses and thoughts will be necessary on the utilitarian society in general, and on the productive-utilitarian society in particular.

1. Definitions.

All along this work we have already defined twice, and in a different way, the utilitarian society.

In fact, from an exclusively operative point of view, we have seen in chapter 9 that we could define the utilitarian society or market as «the number of all the free elementary monetary changes».

And, from a much wider viewpoint, we have seen in chapter 10 that the utilitarian society could be considered as «a whole made up by: 1) all the individuals dedicated to production and/or consumption of utilitarian goods; 2) all the goods exchanged, whether produced or producing; and 3) all the monetary interrelations implied in these exchanges».

It is in this second viewpoint that we place ourselves now.

Following these two viewpoints, we can also make a distribution of the utilitarian society; and we say that, from the first viewpoint, the utilitarian society or market is made up of two cycles: the production cycle and the consumption cycle (see chapter 9); and from the second viewpoint, the utilitarian society is made up of two sub-societies: the productive-utilitarian society and the consumer-utilitarian society.

By productive-utilitarian society we mean, in short, «the number of persons, goods and monetary interrelations implied in the production processes»; and by consuming-utilitarian society in the same manner we mean «the number of persons, goods and monetary interrelations implied in the consuming processes».

With respect to the persons making them up, we must point out that, as the productive-utilitarian society is limited in its numbers and only includes strictly the so-called «utilitarian professionals», the consuming-utilitarian society is of a global social range, it is totalizing, as it includes the whole of the members of the empire, because all need, and a have a right, to consume: utilitarian professionals (called, because they are consumers, «consumer-producers»), the liberal professionals, individuals without a profession, families, the free associations of citizens (all these, called «simple consumers», because they participate in the consumption processes, but not in the production ones).

2. Thoughts on the utilitarian society.

Traditionally, the utilitarian society, both the productive and the consumer one, has worked following the principles of the free private initiative, free private property and free competitiveness.

In fact, the free private initiative, the free private property of individuals on the produced goods (which are things), and the free competitiveness among companies (which are people) in the production field, and among consumers (who are also people) in the consumption field, constitute the more dynamic, agilizing and productive motors on the market.

This is so because the private market agents, both producers and consumers, move traditionally with the aim, if not the only one at least the main one, to obtain always, in each elementary monetary change, the greatest and best profit, specific and monetary. Without this incentive, the utilitarian society languishes.

We wish to go on perfecting, assuring and improving to the maximum and in the best way these traditional freedom, privacy and competitiveness, in order to encourage a greater and better production, together with a consumption more and more in tune and ecological communion with nature. The reason for this is that, even if all the production and consumption wealth generated by the market is since always a private one, it is also this private wealth which upholds the possibility of a communal wealth, expressed as a communal monetary mass, as we have seen in the previous chapter.

We are therefore concerned in fostering in the first place, in the utilitarian society, the generation of private wealth, because it is a positive fact in itself; but also, and above all, because by improving the generation of private wealth we foster the appearance of communal wealth.

From now on then we shall see how the utilitarian society should be protected, being a generator of private wealth; and in this chapter we shall deal specifically with the productive-utilitarian society.

3. Dynamics of the productive-utilitarian society.

The productive-utilitarian society looks after the production of non-finished goods, some of which will become finished when they go to the consumer-utilitarian society (see the analysis of market cycles and sub-cycles made in chapter 8).

To carry out this task, the productive-utilitarian society combines several elements inside the production unit which is a company. These elements are of two sorts:

The result of the combination of all these active and passive production factors, is the production of new non-finished goods, which production will be the greatest and best if the company combination is intelligent, effective and satisfactory for all the implied agents.

Through the salary-private remunerations to the production agents the produced, non-finished, goods but which can be finished, go finally to the consumption cycle, to the consumer-utilitarian society, thereby finishing and rounding off (at least partially²²), the production cycle, the processes of the productive-utilitarian society: in fact it is the purchasing power generated by these private-salarial remunerations which allows to effect consumption.

Therefore, it is consumption which gives a meaning to production: the final end and purpose of the productive-utilitarian society: this lends to it a humanistic meaning with respect to the service to people, -since, as we have already said, consumption is a need and a right of all human beings-.

4. Responsibilization of all monetary act in the productive-utilitarian society.

What we have said before with respect to the utilitarian society in general, we must repeat now with respect to the productive-utilitarian society: we want to protect it and help it in its traditional freedom, privacy and competitiveness, because the increase of private produced wealth represents, at the same time, the increase of the communal wealth.

Now, before going ahead to explain in detail the minimum laws of protection of the productive-utilitarian society, we wish to remember a fundamental principle which must give them shape.

It is the principle of the full personal responsibilization (individual and/or collective) of every free monetary-market act, from the first elementary purchase to the last elementary sale. This is the other face of all personal freedom which is not to become irresponsible lawlessness.

As we know, to uphold the total responsibilization of any act implying the use of the monetary isntrument, is easy, through the legal obligation of using, in all cases, the pro-telematic cheque-invoice.

In terms then of the minimum laws which will be established, and of the responsibilization principle we have just mentioned, there will be Specialized Economic Courts created in each field of the productive-utilitarian life, and at every territorial level of the different local Authorities and Autonomies (disctrict..., town..., county..., ethnic group..., interethnic group.., empire).

The examining judges in these Courts will be fully documented in each specific case, concerning monetary transactions, thanks to the access to the telematice archives of cheque-invoices -which, as we know, will be exclusively entrusted to Justice-. To all this antejusticial documentation will be added all the pro-justicial documentation, which is obtained through the judge's action; so the specialized Economic Courts will be able to judge contradictorly quickly, effectively, impartially and calmly, any conflict between contracting parties, and any anti-commercial crime or offence.

5. Basic laws for the protection of the productive-utilitarian society.

We shall now examine how the legal protection of all the specific personal liberties must be structured in the productive-utilitarian society. This protection should be meant for all and each of the persons in this society: both for the companies and for each one of their collaborators: workers, capitalists, businessmen and inventors.

Company protection.

The final purpose we are after is to make the company into an internally solidary collectivity of all the production agents which cooperate with it: effective company spirit and team, investing capitalists, practical inventors and competent workers. It is what we call «company self-management», meant as a direct management of the company by all its collaborators, true inter-company democracy, near and direct, permanent dialogue between the businessman and his collaborators.

Now, the path to a full company self-management is long and difficult; as long as it is not reached, the following basic laws will have to be applied:

Irrespective of the minimum laws we have just described briefly, companies will enjoy a number of very important advantages and facilities to make them effective and productive both in quantity and quality. Among the most important, we shall mention:

Protection of the collaborators of each company.

We shall now deal with the legal protection of all and each one of the production personal agents, collaborating inside each company.

There is in the first place a general protection which is the same for all of them, and which is founded on two bases:

In the second place, we must also foresee a specific protection for each of the personal production agents in the market.

6. Foreign trade and customs.

Up to now we have not spoken of foreign trade, in spite of its importance in the present utilitarian systems, because, in fact, it is a secondary question within our approach.

Foreign trade covers all of the market areas, both of production (current production and wholesale trade; investment production; retail shops and industries) and of consumption (through domestic and foreign tourism).

Import and export will be completely free.

As far as the customs duties are concerned, they will be incidental, and will not be paid according to the type of goods imported or exported, but according to the two following principles.

In the first place there will be the customs duties for a continuous dynamic balance. Every import and export will pay a variable duty according to the state of the balance of payments existing at the time with the country of destination (export) or of origin (import). If the balance is even, the customs duties will be nonexistent; the import duties will go up with the balances showing a deficit, and the export duties will go up with the balances showing a surplus. These variable customs duties will be instantly communicated by telex to any company demanding them, concerning a given import or export, and they will be held for a prudential time period, if the company engages to do the operation within a given term.

By this system a permanent dynamic balance is reached, in each State, or within a number of States, which is the unavoidable condition for a healthy foreign trade, and therefore the main goal to be attained by any customs organization.

In the second place, antidumping customs duties will be established. In fact, in order to avoid competition for domestic manufacturers from foreign manufacturers who, taking advantage, for example, of cheap labour, produce cheaper goods, the minimum legal sales price will be compulsory for all the cheque-invoices, both import and export ones. If the sales price of an imported product is lower, the difference will be an antidumping customs duty, and therefore the importer will not be able to take advantage of this difference.

Notes:

²⁰Not everybody will agree with this list of four active production factors. Many handbooks and economy treaties, for example, only take two into account: labour and capital. We wish simply to be practical: private companies are the motor of production, and this implies the presence of a businessman eager for profits; therefore we consider profits as a further salary to be paid by the company. Something different is that we suggest a self-managing process which will cause the sharing out of profits among all the collaborators of each company; but this does not imply the disappearance, neither of profits (which will be shared out) nor of the businessman (as everybody will be one).

As far as inventions are concerned, it is also evident that, since the company must pay patents and trade-marks, they will have to be considered as another active production factor among those bought by the company.
²¹We insist on the fact that these active production factors are private, because we consider that there exist, besides, active communal production factors which are not paid by the company. We shall develop this hypothesis in the Fourth Part of this work.
²²We refer again to the Fourth Part.